Labor Economics II

Readings

The class 14.999 Topics in Inequality, taught by Daren Acemoglu, David Autor, and Ivan Werning, was offered for the first time in Spring 2015. The instructor for 14.662, David Autor, taught the first three lectures for 14.999. These three lectures dovetailed with 14.662 and were considered part of the 14.662 sequence.

LEC #	TOPICS	MAIN PAPERS
1. Inequality: An Overview
1	Decomposing the Wage Distribution	Card, David, J. Heining, et al. “Workplace Heterogeneity and the Rise of West German Wage Inequality.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 128, no. 3 (2013): 967–1015. DiNardo, John, Nicole Fortin, et al. “Labor Market Institutions and the Distribution of Wages, 1973–1992: A Semiparametric Approach. " Econometrica 64, no. 5 (1996): 1001–044. Firpo, Sergio, Nicole M. Fortin, et al. “Unconditional Quantile Regressions.” Econometrica 77, no. 3 (2009): 953–73.
Lecture 1 of 14.999	Inequality—some Facts and Questions	Acemoglu, Daron, and David Autor. “Skills, Tasks and Technologies: Implications for Employment and Earnings.” In Handbook of Labor Economics. Vol. 4b. Edited by Orley Ashenfelter and David Card. North Holland, 2010, pp. 1043–171. ISBN: 9780444534521. Atkinson, Anthony B, Thomas Piketty, et al. “Top Incomes in the Long Run of History.” Journal of Economic Literature 49, no. 1 (2011): 3–71. Autor, David H. “Skills, Education, and the Rise of Earnings Inequality among the ‘Other 99 Percent.’” Science 344, no. 6186 (2014): 843–51. Beaudry, Paul, David A. Green, et al. “The Declining Fortunes of the Young Since 2000.” American Economic Review 104, no. 5 (2014): 381–86. Boserup, Simon Halphen, Wojciech Kopczuk, et al. “Stability and Persistence of Intergenerational Wealth Formation: Evidence from Danish Wealth Records of Three Generations.” (PDF - 1.4MB) Columbia University Working Paper, 2014. Chetty, Raj, Nathaniel Hendren, et al. “Is the United States Still a Land of Opportunity? Recent Trends in Intergenerational Mobility.”  American Economic Review 104, no. 5 (2014): 141–47. ———. “Where is the Land of Opportunity? The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility in the United States.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 129, no. 4 (2014): 1553–623.
2–3	Job Loss and Job Search at the Micro and Macro Level	Acemoglu, Daron. “Good Jobs versus Bad Jobs.” Journal of Labor Economics 19, no. 1 (2001): 1–21. Autor, David H., David Dorn, et al. “Trade Adjustment: Worker-level Evidence.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 129, no. 4 (2014): 1799–860. Autor, David H, Nicole Maestas, et al. “Does Delay Cause Decay? The Effect of Administrative Decision Time on the Labor Force Participation and Earnings of Disability.” NBER Working Paper 20840, 2015. Crepon, Bruno, Esther Duo, et al. “Do Labor Market Policies have Displacement Effects? Evidence from a Clustered Randomized Experiment.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 128, no. 2 (2013): 531–80. Davis, Steven J., and Till von Wachter. “Recessions and the Costs of Job Loss.” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, no. 2 (2011): 1–72. Jacobson, Louis. S., Robert J. LaLonde, et al. “Earnings Losses of Displaced Workers Revisited.” American Economic Review 83, no. 4 (1993): 685–709. Jarosch, Gregor. “Searching for Job Security and the Consequences of Job Loss.” University of Chicago Working Paper, 2014. Kroft, Kory, Fabian Lange, et al. “Duration Dependence and Labor Market Conditions: Evidence from a Field Experiment.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 128, no. 3 (2013): 1123–67. Lalive, Rafael, Camille Landais, et al. “Market Externalities of Large Unemployment Insurance Extension Programs.” University of Lausanne Working Paper, 2013. Oreopoulos, Philip, Till Von Wachter, et al. “The Short-term and Long-term Career Effects of Graduating in a Recession.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 4, no. 1 (2012): 1–29. Sullivan, Daniel, and Till von Wachter. “Job Displacement and Mortality: An Analysis Using Administrative Data.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 124, no. 3 (2009): 1265–306. Schmieder, Johannes F., Stefan Bender, et al. “The Causal Effect of Unemployment Duration on Wages: Evidence from Unemployment Insurance Extensions.” (PDF) UCLA Working Paper, 2014.
3. The “Canonical Model”
Lecture 2 of 14.992	Canonical Model: Main Papers	Acemoglu, Daron. “Technical Change, Inequality and the Labor Market.” Journal of Economic Literature 40, no. 1 (2002): 7–72. Goldin, Claudia, and Lawrence Katz. “The Race between Education and Technology: The Evolution of U.S. Educational Wage Differentials, 1890 to 2005.” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 12984, 2007. Katz, Lawrence F., and Kevin M. Murphy. “Changes in Relative Wages, 1963–1987: Supply and Demand Factors.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 107, no. 1 (1992): 35–78.
4	Educational Production and Wage Structure	Card, David, and Thomas Lemieux. “Can Falling Supply Explain the Rising Return to College for Younger Men? A Cohort-based Analysis.” _The Quarterly Journal of Economics_ 116, no. 2 (2001): 705–46. Carneiro, Pedro, and Sokbae Lee. “Trends in Quality-Adjusted Skill Premia in the United States, 1960–2000.” American Economic Review 101, no. 6 (2011): 2309–49. Leuven, Edwin, Hessel Oosterbeek, et al. “Explaining International Differences in Male Skill Wage Differentials by Differences in Demand and Supply of Skill.” The Economic Journal 114, no. 495 (2004): 466–86.
5	Capital-skill Complementarity	Akerman, Anders, Ingvil Gaarder, et al. “The Skill Complementarity of Broadband Internet.” NBER Working Paper No. 20826, 2015. Dittmar, Jeremiah E. “Information Technology and Economic Change: The Impact of the Printing Press.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 126, no. 3 (2011): 1133–72. Hanlon, W. Walker. “Necessity Is the Mother of Invention: Input Supplies and Directed Technical Change.” Econometrica 83, no. 1 (2015): 67–100. (Forthcoming) Krusell, Per, Lee Ohanian, et al. “Capital-skill Complementarity and Inequality.” Econometrica 68, no. 5 (2000): 1029–053. Lewis, Ethan G. “Immigration, Skill Mix, and Capital-skill Complementarity.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 126, no. 2 (2011): 1029–069.
4. Technical Change, Organizational Change and Skill Demands
Lecture 3 of 14.992	The Task Framework	Acemoglu, Daron, and David Autor. “Skills, Tasks and Technologies: Implications for Employment and Earnings.” In Handbook of Labor Economics. Vol. 4b. Edited by Orley Ashenfelter and David Card. North Holland, 2010, pp. 1043–171. ISBN: 9780444534521. Autor, David H., Frank Levy, et al. “The Skill Content of Recent Technological Change: An Empirical Exploration.” _The Quarterly Journal of Economics_ 118, no. 4 (2003): 1279–333. Gathmann, Christina, and Uta Schonberg. “How General is Human Capital? A Task-based Approach.” Journal of Labor Economics 28, no. 1 (2010): 1–49. Goos, Maarten, Alan Manning, et al. “Explaining Job Polarization: Routine-biased Technological Change and Offshoring.” American Economic Review 104, no. 8 (2014): 2509–26. Hsieh, Chang-Tai, Erik Hurst, et al. “The Allocation of Talent and U.S. Economic Growth.” (PDF) Stanford University Working Paper, NBER Wroking Paper No. 18693, 2013.
4.2 Organizational Change and Market Structure
6	The Division of Labor	Bartel, Ann P., Casey Ichniowski, et al. “How Does Information Technology Affect Productivity? Plant-level Comparisons of Product Innovation, Process Improvement and Worker Skills.” _The Quarterly Journal of Economics_ 122, no. 4 (2007): 1721–58. Bartling, Björn, Ernst Fehr, et al. “Screening, Competition, and Job Design: Economic Origins of Good Jobs.” American Economic Review 102, no. 2 (2012): 834–64. Becker, Gary S., and Kevin M. Murphy. “The Division of Labor, Coordination Costs and Knowledge.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 107, no. 4 (1992): 1137–60. Dessein, Wouter, and Tanos Santos. “Adaptive Organizations.” Journal of Political Economy 114, no. 5 (2006): 956–95. Pallais, Amanda. “Inefficient Hiring in Entry-level Labor Markets.” American Economic Review 104, no. 11 (2014): 3565–99.
7	The Economics of Superstars	Rosen, Sherwin. “The Economics of Superstars.” American Economic Review 71, no. 5 (1981): 845–58. Tervio, Markö. “The Difference that CEOs Make: An Assignment Model Approach.” American Economic Review 98, no. 3 (2008): 642–68. ———. “Superstars and Mediocrities: Market Failure in the Discovery of Talent.” Review of Economic Studies 76, no. 2 (2009): 829–50.
5. Trade, Offshoring and Labor Markets: Ricardian Models and Recent Evidence
8	Theory: Main Papers	Eaton, Jonathan, and Samuel Kortum. “Technology, Geography and Trade.” Econometrica 70, no. 5 (2002): 1741–79. ———. “Putting Ricardo to Work.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 26, no. 2 (2012): 65–90. (Also see online appendix)
9–10	Evidence: Main papers	Autor, By David H, David Dorn, et al. “The China Syndrome : Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States.” American Economic Review 103, no. 6 (2013): 2121–68. Becker, Sascha O., Karolina Ekholm, et al. “Offshoring and the Onshore Composition of Tasks and Skills.” Journal of International Economics 90, no. 1 (2013): 91–106. Dix-Carneiro, Rafael, and Brian Kovak. “Trade Reform and Regional Dynamics: Evidence From 25 Years of Brazilian Matched Employer-employee Data. " Carnegie Mellon Working Paper, NBER Working Paper No. 20908, 2014. Goldberg, Pinelopi Koujianou. “Introduction.” In Trade and Inequality. Edward Elgar Publications, 2015, pp. 1–27. ISBN: 9781783479474. Grossman, Gene, and Estaban Rossi-Hansberg. “Trading Tasks: A Simple Theory of Outsourcing.” American Economic Review 98, no. 5 (2008): 1978–97. Hsieh, Chag-Tai, and Keong T. Woo. “The Impact of Outsourcing to China on Hong Kong’s Labor Market.” American Economic Review 95, no. 5 (2005): 1673–87. Hummels, David, Rasmus Jørgensen, et al. “The Wage Effects of Offshoring: Evidence from Danish Matched Worker-firm Data.”  American Economic Review 104, no. 6 (2014): 1597–629.
11	Labor Market Institutions and Wage Structure	Lee, David S., and Alexandre Mas. “Long-run Impacts of Unions on Firms: New Evidence from Financial Markets, 1961–1999.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 127, no. 1 (2012): 333–78. Mas, Alexandre. “Labour Unrest and the Quality of Production: Evidence from the Construction Equipment Resale Market.” Review of Economic Studies 75, no. 1 (2008): 229–58. Schmitz, James A. Jr. “What Determines Productivity? Lessons from the Dramatic Recovery of the U.S. and Canadian Iron Ore Industries Following their Early 1980s Crisis.” Journal of Political Economy 113, no. 3 (2005): 582–625.
12–13	The Emerging Gender Gap in Education and Labor Markets	Autor, David H., David Figlio, et al. “The Fragile-Y Effect: Family Environment and the Gender Gap in Behavioral and Educational Outcomes.” MIT Working Paper, 2015. Bailey, Martha J., and Susan M Dynarski. “Inequality in Post-secondary Education.” In Whither Opportunity?: Rising Inequality, Schools, and Children’s Life Chances. Edited by Greg J. Duncan and Richard J. Murnane. Russell Sage Foundation, 2011. ISBN: 9780871543721. [Preview with Google Books] (Also available as: Bailey and Dynarski. “Gains and Gaps: Changing Inequality in U.S. College Entry and Completion.” NBER Working Paper No. 17633, 2011.) Bertrand, Marianne, and Jessica Pan. “The Trouble with Boys: Social Inuences and the Gender Gap in Disruptive Behavior.” American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 5, no. 1 (2013): 32–64. Goldin, Claudia, Lawrence F. Katz, et al. “The Homecoming of American College Women: The Reversal of the College Gender Gap.” Journal of Economic Perspectives 20, no. 4 (2006): 133–56. Ramey, Garey, and Valerie A Ramey. “The Rug Rat Race.” Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, no. 1 (2010): 129–76.

Part 2: Williams

LEC #	TOPICS	READINGS
1. Self-selection: The Roy Model
1.1	The Roy Model: Theory and An Application to Immigration	Abramitzky, Ran, Leah Boustan, et al. “Europe’s Tired, Poor, Huddled Masses: Self-selection and Economic Outcomes in the Age of Mass Migration.” American Economic Review 102, no. 5 (2012): 1832–56. Borjas, George. “Self-selection and the Earnings of Immigrants.” American Economic Review 77, no. 4 (1987): 531–53. Roy, Andrew. “Some Thoughts on the Distribution of Earnings.” Oxford Economic Papers New Series 3, no. 2 (1951): 135–46.
1.2	The Roy Model: Additional Applications	Abramitzky, Ran. “The Effect of Redistribution on Migration: Evidence from the Israeli Kibbutz.” Journal of Public Economics 93, no. 3–4 (2009): 498–511. Chandra, Amitabh, and Douglas Staiger. “Productivity Spillovers in Health Care: Evidence from the Treatment of Heart Attacks.” Journal of Political Economy 115, no. 1 (2007): 103–40.
2. Equalizing Wage Differentials
2.1	Equalizing Wage Differentials: Theory and Empirics	Brown, Charles. “Equalizing Differences in the Labor Market.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 94, no. 1 (1980): 113–34. Rosen, Sherwin. “The Theory of Equalizing Differences.” Chapter 12 in Handbook of Labor Economics. Vol. 1. Edited by Orley Ashenfelter and Richard Layard. North Holland, 1987, pp. 641–92. ISBN: 9780444878564.
2.2	Applying the Roy Model and Equalizing Wage Differentials: Female Labor Supply	Goldin, Claudia. “Richard T. Ely Lecture: The Quiet Revolution that Transformed Women’s Employment, Education, and Family.” American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings 96, no. 2 (2006): 1–21. ———. “A Grand Gender Convergence: Its Last Chapter.” American Economic Review 104, no. 4 (2014): 1091–119. Goldin, Claudia, and Lawrence Katz. Forthcoming. “The Most Egalitarian Profession: Pharmacy and the Evolution of a Family-friendly Occupation.” Journal of Labor Economics, NBER Working Paper No. 18410, 2012. Mulligan, Casey, and Yona Rubinstein. “Selection, Investment, and Women’s Relative Wages over Time.” _The Quarterly Journal of Economics_ 123, no. 3 (2008): 1061–110.
2.3	Applying the Roy Model and Equalizing Wage Differentials: The Scientific Workforce	Aghion, Philippe, Mathias Dewatripont, et al. “Academic Freedom, Private-sector Focus, and the Process of Innovation.” RAND Journal of Economics 39, no. 3 (2008): 617–35. Borjas, George, and Kirk Doran. “The Collapse of the Soviet Union and the Productivity of American Mathematicians.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 127, no. 3 (2012): 1143–203. Stern, Scott. “Do Scientists Pay to be Scientists?” Management Science 50, no. 6 (2004): 835–53.
3. Discrimination
3.1	Discrimination - Theory	Aigner, Dennis, and Glen Cain. “Statistical Theories of Discrimination in Labor Markets.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 30, no. 2 (1977): 175–87. Phelps, Edmund. “The Statistical Theory of Racism and Sexism.” American Economic Review 62, no. 4 (1972): 659–61.
3.2	Discrimination - Empirics	Goldin, Claudia, and Cecilia Rouse. “Orchestrating Impartiality: The Impact of ‘Blind’ Auditions on Female Musicians.” American Economic Review 90, no. 4 (2000): 715–41. Neal, Derek, and William Johnson. “The Role of Pre-market Factors in Black-white Wage Differences.” Journal of Political Economy 104, no. 5 (1996): 869–95.
3.3	Discrimination and Learning	Altonji, Joseph, and Charles Pierret. “Employer Learning and Statistical Discrimination.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 116, no. 1 (2001): 313–50. Coate, Stephen, and Glenn Loury. “Will Affirmative Action Eliminate Negative Stereotypes?” American Economic Review 83, no. 5 (1993): 1220–40. Farber, Henry, and Robert Gibbons. “Learning and Wage Dynamics.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 111, no. 4 (1996): 1007–47.
4. Firm-level Determinants of Wages and Productivity
4.1	Rent-sharing	Rose, Nancy. “Labor Rent Sharing and Regulation: Evidence from the Trucking Industry.” Journal of Political Economy 95, no. 6 (1987): 1146–78. Van Reenen, John. “The Creation and Capture of Rents: Wages and Innovaiton in a Panel of U.K. Companies.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 111, no. 1 (1996): 195–226.
4.2	Management Practices	Bertrand, Marianne, and Antoinette Schoar. “Managing with Style: The Effect of Managers on Firm Policies.” _The Quarterly Journal of Economics_ 118, no. 4 (2003): 1169–208. Bloom, Nicholas, and John Van Reenen. “Measuring and Explaining Management Practices Across Firms and Countries.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 122, no. 4 (2007): 1351–408.
5. Intergenerational Mobility
5.1	Intergenerational Mobility-theory and Measurement	Haider, Steven, and Gary Solon. “Life-cycle Variation in the Association Between Current and Lifetime Earnings.”  American Economic Review 96, no. 4 (2006): 1308–20. Solon, Gary. “Intergenerational Income Mobility in the United States.” (PDF - 1.2MB) American Economic Review 82, no. 3 (1992): 393–408.
5.2	Intergenerational Mobility-empirics	Black, Sandra, Paul Devereux, et al. “Why the Apple doesn’t Fall Far: Understanding Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital.” American Economic Review 95, no. 1 (2005): 437–49. Chetty, R., Nathaniel Hendren, et al. “Where is the Land of Opportunity? The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility in the United States.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 129, no. 4 (2014): 1553–623. Sacerdote, Bruce. “How Large are the Effects from Changes in Family Environment? A Study of Korean American Adoptees.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 122, no. 1 (2007): 119–57.
6	Early Life Determinants of Long-run Outcomes	Bharadwaj, Prashant, Katrine Loken, et al. “Early Life Health Interventions and Academic Achievement.” American Economic Review 103, no. 5 (2013): 1862–91. Black, Sandra, Paul Devereux, et al. “From the Cradle to the Labor Market? The Effect of Birth Weight on Adult Outcomes.” The Quarterly Journal of Economics 122, no. 1 (2007): 409–39. Doyle, Joseph. “Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Foster Care.” American Economic Review 97, no. 5 (2007): 1583–610.